NATO planes bombed the Tripoli compound of Libyan leader Muamer Qaddafi for the second time on Tuesday, a witness said.
There was fire in the Bab al—Aziziya compound and heavy black smoke was seen coming out, he added.
The whereabouts of Col. Qaddafi, who turns 69 on Tuesday, are not known. His son Saif al—Arab was killed in a NATO airstrike on the compound on April 30.
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Four explosions were heard earlier in the day in the Libyan capital, three of them in Bab al—Aziziya.
Witnesses said that attacks were also targeting intelligence offices in central Tripoli.
The airstrikes began at the end of March under a United Nations Security Council resolution reinforcing a no—fly zone to ensure the safety of civilians in the conflict between Col. Qaddafi’s forces and rebels.
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Protests against Col. Qaddafi, who has been in power for 42 years, began in mid—February, but soon turned into an armed conflict following a lethal government crackdown on demonstrators.
The attack comes after Mikhail Margelov, Russia’s special envoy on Africa, arrived in the rebel—stronghold of Benghazi for talks with the opposition.
He is scheduled to meet with members of the Interim Transitional National Council (ITNC).
The visit is seen as a further isolation of the embattled Qaddafi and his regime, as it comes following a similar visit by a Chinese envoy. The Chinese ambassador to Qatar recently met the chairman of the ITNC, Mustafa Abdul—Jalil.
Both China and Russia have maintained good relations with Col. Qaddafi since he took power in a 1969 coup.
The pair of veto—holding permanent members of the UN Security Council were both opposed to NATO’s airstrikes on military installations controlled by Col. Qaddafi.